


Cause for Alarm

by Eryessa



Category: All Elite Wrestling, Being the Elite
Genre: Abuse, Bullying, F/M, Sexist Language, Sexual Misconduct, unwanted touching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:15:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25741936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eryessa/pseuds/Eryessa
Summary: Zoe had worked at Daily’s Place before she was also given a job as a Runner for the newly created AEW. She is having trouble with one wrestler that doesn’t take No for an answer, her boss is an ass and she finds a way to talk to some of the Non-English speaking wrestlers, out of respect for them and for the man that seems to want to be her friend. The only problem he’s an Executive Vice President, and is a person she can respect no matter how much she fears men in general.When her boss Threatens her job, Zoe has to decide if going to Kenny is worth her job and sanity or if it’s better that she just leaves.
Relationships: Possible Kenny Omega/Original Female Character
Kudos: 10





	1. Predator at Double or Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe finds herself alone in a hall at Double or Nothing, when some guy touches her wrong. She’s saved by someone she knew from her day at Daily’s Place, one man who both mildly frightens and intrigues her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something that has no relation to my other AEW story. Just something different that started from a random thought that got me thinking of another story.

Zoe had just leaned over a crate in the hall of the MGM Garden Arena looking for one of those stupid cable junction boxes that had been misplaced. The curse of being short proved difficult since the stupid box had fallen on the floor, got wedged between the cement wall and the wheels of the transit case the Production company was using.

She was only ever a runner, or a PA for people at Daily’s Place before this whole new wrestling show came into existence. Some of the people working at Daily’s ended up as road crew for the show as well, which meant a hefty pay raise but less chill time. It had started with that first big show called Double or Nothing. Then she would go back to her original job at Daily’s Place once her job on the road was over. Then it would start all over again for the next Pay-Per-View a month down the road. 

As she bent over a little further, her hand brushed the box but at the same time a different hand brushed up against her backside. This caused her to almost face plant into the rolling crate and the electrical box that she needed to get. She jerked back so fast to look at who had done the one thing that could make her recall her childhood only to come face to almost face with a man that was no taller than 5’10’’.

“Hey there, sweetheart.” The guy said, his shit brown eyes swept over her. “Name’s Sammy, what’s yours?”

Zoe backed up against the wall, trying to protect what had been violated in her mind. She continued to stare only because the guy was wearing a black leather jacket that had nothing on underneath, he wore tiny trunks and wrestling boots. It had to be one of the wrestlers but she had no clue which one it was. Her gut twisted painfully, even trying to press a hand into her stomach didn’t help the vile feeling the guy oozed out of himself.

“Oh, come on. I’m not that bad. Just a little.” He held up a thumb and his index finger to indicate size or whatever.

Before she had a chance to respond someone else was coming down that back hall.

“Guevara, roster meeting, now.” The man with the two toned curly hair that stuck up in odd places approached.

This guy was twice the size of whoever Guevara was. Twice the muscle, taller, broader and better looking. Zoe vaguely remembered this guy from somewhere but she couldn’t place it. Not that in her panicked state of fight or flight allowed her to think of such things. Even as he got closer she couldn’t remember where she had seen him before. Not that she was a wrestling fan in the first place.

“Oh come on, man. I was just getting good with a gorgeous woman.”

The bigger guy looked at Zoe and then shifted his gaze back to Guevara. “Roster meeting, now.” Even Zoe gulped at the dangerous tone the man emitted from deep within his throat.

“Look, I gotta go, babe. I’ll find you later. Promise.” Guevara stuck the tip of his tongue out, wiggled his eyebrows at her and then started off in the direction the other man came from.

The man stayed the six feet from her as the other man sauntered off. Once Guevara disappeared around the corner the curly haired man turned to her.

“Was he bothering you, ma’am?”

“Just a little. I was looking for something for Production.” She fiddled with her pinky, twisting it almost painfully.

“If he ever bothers you again, either tell your supervisor, or me personally. We’ll handle him.” He did some sort of bow gesture towards her before he, too started leaving.

“Wait, I don’t even know who you are.” She found herself speaking up.

The man turned, his brows raised ever so slightly. “Really? You don’t know who I am?”

She shook her head.

He walked back towards her, this time he came to about three feet from her. Already pinned up against a wall with a case cutting into her side, she couldn’t move even if she willed herself to do so. Besides a slight scruffy face, which the other guy didn’t appear to have much facial hair, this guy did. With the most striking blue eyes she had ever seen. The twist in her gut sort of subsided as he started to talk.

“I’m one of the Executive Vice Presidents for AEW, Kenny Omega. I thought you might have remembered me, you served us food at Daily’s Place during a long meeting. I believe your name is Zoe, right?”

She squinted her eyes a little. Did he? Did he know her? How did she know him? She thought back to her Daily’s Place work jobs, one of them having been helping with a catered meeting of some sort, like a dinner. Most of her jobs detailed catering as of late. There seemed to be a lot of celebrations going on.

“Oh, you’re the no wine, whiskey or beer guy. I’m sorry, I should have remembered because I don’t drink either.” She said, and offered as best of a smile as she could. “I should have remembered that fact. Again so sorry, sir.”

He chuckled, a breathy kind of laugh. “Well, now you know who I am. Look for me if you need anything.”

“Maybe, I don’t want to be a pain in the side, sir. I just want to do my job and go to bed.”

He shook his head. “No need for that kind of formal talking. I don’t think I’m that much older than you. If I’m not busy, you should stop by and talk if you need to. I wouldn’t mind the distraction.”

“I’ll let you get back to work, sir. I mean, Kenny.”

The man had an almost perpetual smile any time he looked at her. It was the total opposite of how Guevara treated her. It was less threatening than anything she had to deal with in her life. Pleasing, serene. Safe almost.

“See you around, Zoe-san.” He bowed a little more this time before sweeping off down the hall.

With her heart still lodged firm in her throat, Zoe watched him. He was wearing skin tight, well tights. And a leather sort of jacket thing that was sleeveless hadn’t hid the fact he wore no shirt over the expanse of a broad chest. She definitely noticed muscle definitions in his lower half, which only made the blush flare more in her cheeks and her stomach flutter with unusual nerves.

He was the 180 difference to Guevara, and she could respect that.

* * *

Kenny was working in between matches for Double or Nothing. The pre-show had kicked off with a blast. The fans were doing great and the energy was through the roof. Nothing could have been better.

In catering, he went to get a bottle of water when he saw the woman from earlier. Zoe-san was sitting in the corner of the room with a bottle of water and reading a book. She was wearing glasses, which was something that he had not seen her wearing before. Her left leg was crossed over her right knee and she was slouched slightly with the book hovering in front of her.

It wasn’t every day he saw a woman with a book. Most anyone stared at their phones these days. It was a welcoming sight, considering what the title of the book said.

“Asian Mythology and Creatures,” he read out loud as he walked up to her table.

The small woman jerked, gasped and she stared up at him for a long moment. Her glasses were a little skewed as she registered it was him that was talking.

“Konichiwa, Zoe-san.” He pulled out a chair from the other end of the table. “Are you on break?”

“Yes,” she closed her book and placed it on the table. She craned her neck up at the wall over her head. “I have about five minutes left of it. Then it’s more running.”

“Do they make you run a lot?”

“Not always. Sometimes, but not always. It usually consists of small things. A lot of menial tasks like coffee delivery to the media truck, snacks because they can’t leave it. Wires and stuff. I have actually had to help wrangle the mat covering once tonight for a ring change.”

“What are you doing after the show?”

“Sleeping. Then I come in here tomorrow and help tear down. All this stuff is going back to Florida.”

He nodded as he twisted off the top to his water bottle. “Before I go, has Guevara bothered you anymore?”

“No, I haven’t actually seen him.” She glanced around him. “I guess being small helps, I don’t stand out.”

“You stood out to me, Zoe-san.” He said before taking a sip of his water.

Kenny saw her eyes widen just a fraction. Her deep blue eyes stared back at his much lighter ones as if he had grown three heads. It was pleasant, in a way.

“I’ll let you finish up and get back to work. I have to meet up with the women for their match later. A few of them don’t speak English” He stood up. “You’ll let me or your boss know if someone is bothering you, right?” He asked.

She nodded. She obviously was thinking of something but he was sure she would say what it was if it really mattered.

Before Kenny fully left the catering area, he looked behind his shoulder to where the woman sat. She flicked the edges of her book, lost in thought about something. Hopefully that something was a good thing and not something horrible. He’d hate to have to dive too far into her personal life if she didn’t want him around.


	2. Truth and Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe tells her boss the truth, but he’s not the one she should have told about Guevara. She learns where she stands in her boss’s eye and sacrifices what little bond she had with Kenny.
> 
> Kenny picks up that something is wrong with Zoe, which earns the interest of those closest to him about this little woman he has befriended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this out to you guys. Happy reading!

Zoe’s boss, Mr. Graham, had texted her on her work phone to get a replacement sewing machine to the wardrobe department. She had to go outside to a crew truck where extra equipment was being stored. At least she could get away from the noise, and with it being spring time in the desert city after dark the weather was relatively cooler than she expected. Once she found a replacement sewing machine, Zoe went back inside.

She approached the wardrobe area in the back, making sure to keep her shoulder pressed close to the wall as possible because some of the other workers were talking to some of the talent performers. After her last interaction with Guevara and Kenny, she just wanted to stay as far away from the opposite gender as possible. It was bad enough that her boss was some sort of road agent or something, he was still a man.

As Zoe got back to the wardrobe room, there was no head of wardrobe, or a seamstress. She pulled out her sticky note pad and a pen she kept with her and left a note saying that she delivered the replacement sewing machine. While she was bent over writing the note, something brushed up against her backside.

“Hey again, sweetheart.” The man from earlier said.

She shot up to a standing position and spun around to face Guevara. Again, she was pinned somewhere she didn’t want to be, with no one around to rescue her. She was on her own this time around.

“Can you please back up?” She asked, finally able to speak to him.

“Why? I know you like me.”

“I don’t even know you.” Zoe glanced around, a prayer for anyone to come into the room. Anyone at all would have been wonderful.

“Well, I guess we should get to know each other. See, I’m Sammy Guevara, probably one if not the best wrestler there is around here. And you are?”

“Zoe,” she wasn’t going to point to her name tag that was located on her worker’s lanyard. She wanted less of a reason for him to be any closer, especially around her chest.

“A cute name for a beautiful woman.” His eyes swept over her from head to toe but he still didn’t back up.

Her phone dinged, which was a text from her boss. Zoe looked at it and sighed.

“Duty calls, I have another run to make.” She said and looked back at Guevara. “Excuse me.”

His hand dragged across her hip when she walked by him.

“I don’t want to be touched.” She grabbed his wrist and shoved it off her.

“Sure you do. You want it, you’re just...”

“No, means no.” She cut in before she left the wardrobe room.

He stopped at the doorway. “See you around, my sweetheart.”

Zoe felt as if she was going to puke. Long buried, thought dead, memories started to surface. Along with a fresh new set of tears that threatened to spill down her face. No one seemed to notice her, not that she wanted them to notice her. She found her boss hanging around near the entrance ramp to the show, headset on and his black shirt having a hard time covering his midsection.

Mr. Graham looked like the walrus from Alice in Wonderland, but he had also been a supervisor back at Daily’s Place, not hers but he carried a reputation with him. Higher than thou if anyone worked with him. Thankfully Zoe only worked under him when she needed to be at the pay-per-views.

“Sir,” she said as she approached.

He only glanced to his side. “About time, what took you so long?”

“Guevara was harassing me.”

“Hmm, wonder why? There isn’t really anything special about you. It doesn’t matter, he’s a performer, he can do whatever he wants. I want a coffee, two creams, one sugar. Go, now.” He waved her off.

She sucked her lip in between her teeth and bit a little too hard. Nevertheless, she turned and headed for the catering area about twenty feet from the entrance area. She made sure that she didn’t trip over any of the half-hazardly laid out wires that controlled everything from lights to sound around her.

There was a television going in the area so that people could see what was going on in the ring. From the looks of thing, the main show had only just crossed the halfway mark. From what she knew, there was a pre-show show called the Buy In, which was before the main Double or Nothing Pay-Per-View show. If she was correct, the women were in the middle of a match from what she saw.

Two creams and one sugar later, she brought Mr. Graham his coffee.

“Tastes like crap.” He grumbled. “They need better coffee around these places.”

Zoe bit her tongue as the women were coming through the curtain. She heard some of them speaking Japanese, a language she knew next to nothing about. It was the man that they were speaking to that caught her off guard. She watched the Japanese women interact with Kenny as he had been standing by the backstage curtain.

“Need anything else, sir?” She asked Mr. Graham.

He drained the rest of the coffee in the little paper cup and held it out. “Toss this and go get ready to help with another ring change. I hear Rhodes is going to get bloody.”

She took the cup and started to walk away. No sense wasting time. She needed to help the ring crew prepare for another ring cover change. The job just needed to be done, then she could leave and get some sleep.

The extra ring covers were kept near the ramp, just in case blood was spilt, which apparently was going to be a common occurrence for AEW. From the few staff meetings she had to attend, they wanted to be as different from the other wrestling companies out there, like WWE, which some of those wrestling in AEW had been a part of. The only downside about the ring covers was that she had to get close to where Kenny Omega was having a discussion with the women wrestlers.

As she got close, the group dispersed. Only Kenny was left.

“Zoe-san.” He greeted her as she reached the bundled of tied up canvas. “How are you? No troubles?”

She shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“If you’re sure. Remember what I said earlier.”

Zoe glanced over her shoulder toward Mr. Graham. His beady black eyes watched the two of them. With that look, a look all the foster fathers in her life gave her if she ever did something wrong and knew what the outcome would be, she was screwed.

So she stayed quiet, a last ditch effort for things to just go away so she could do her work like she was supposed to.

“I’ll leave you to it, then. Let me know if you need anything. I’m going to get ready for my spot.”

She looked up at him from where she was kneeling. “Please don’t bleed a lot, I can only change the ring apron one more time.”

He out right laughed at her words. Kenny for some reason had a the kind of laugh that allowed her to smile in response.

“I’m in the main event. I don’t think you’ll have to worry too much, Zoe-san.” He nodded his head before heading off further backstage.

As she got the last binding off the ring apron, she was grabbed by the elbow and pulled to her feet.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Mr. Graham asked, his acrid breath stretched across her face as he hissed through his teeth.

Zoe pulled her arm away. “Don’t touch me.” She said. “I’m doing my job.”

“No, you were cuddling up to an executive of the company. Know your place. If I see you talking to him again you’ll be written up. Your job is to do what I say, got that?”

“I didn’t actively talk to him. He talked to me.”

“I don’t care. If I catch you talking to him, or any of them, you’ll be written up. If this keeps happening you will be fired. I won’t stand for you going over my head. Do you understand?”

She stared at him.

“Do you understand?” He said it loud enough that some of the other workers turned to look at them.

“Yes, sir.” She said through gritted teeth.

“Good.”

* * *

Kenny met up Riho in the back, after his fall from the stack of oversized poker chips. His back was aching a good fair amount. As he and her were in the medic room the others of The Elite came to check up on him. Cody had finally stopped bleeding from his head wound, the Young Bucks were both sporting ice packs on opposite shoulders.

“Tonight was great.” Cody mentioned as his wife Brandi leaned on his medic table.

Riho slid her hands over Kenny’s back. Her fingers dug into the tender knots near his shoulder blades. Kenny couldn’t stop the grunt that came out of him. He’d have to see a real masseuse for those muscles.

Adam Page sauntered in. “Hey, so this is where everyone is hiding.” He had long since dressed in his street clothes. “You alright there, Ken?”

He glanced up. “Yeah, I’m alright. How’s Jericho?”

“Him and Moxley are catching up in the hall.” Adam jabbed his thumb over his shoulder.

Sure enough Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho were standing just outside of the medic area talking. Both former WWE superstars were probably...

A figure walked by the doorway. Short blond hair, black worker clothes and carrying a few articles of clothing. She stopped next to the two men in the hall and spoke them, each had to look down at her where she presented Chris with his jacket he had taken with him to the ring before the match.

“Thanks, chick.” Chris said.

“You’re welcome, sir.” Zoe said and then turned around only to stop.

Kenny stopped Riho’s hands by placing a hand on hers before he stood up. Zoe’s eyes opened a fraction bigger with each step he took towards her.

“Hey, did you manage to see my match?” He asked as she took a step back from him.

“No, sorry. I was in the middle of a run. I was told to return clothes and now I have to go.” She said that so fast and still held out his anime inspired coat out to him.

“Hey, hold on. What time are you off the clock?” He asked as he took the coat from her.

She looked at him with raised brows, she chewed on the inside of her lower lip.

“I’m off late. Then I have to be in around eight in the morning to tear down. Please, sir, I have to go do my job.”

The tone, her tone indicated that she was scared. Scared of him or scared of something else? His instincts took him a step forward but she had taken three steps back before scurrying off back the way towards the stage, almost running into another worker.

She called him sir.

Zoe-san had called him something he told her not to. There had to be something wrong otherwise she would have just said his name like he told her to. That was what bothered him the most. 

“Zoe-san?” Jon Moxley sort of smirked at him. “Is that how Japanese flirt now?”

“No, Mox. It’s professional respect.” He leveled the man a look. “She’s just an interesting worker I met. Nothing more.”

“You sure? You seem to be thinking awfully hard about her.”

“Don’t you have a wife you need to call?” He draped his coat over his arm.

“Want me to try that move again?”

Both men grinned, one in intimidation the other in amusement. Sure in the ring they were enemies, outside they at least respected the other for the same reason they both got into wrestling in the first place.

“Wow, Omega has a thing for a girl?” Jericho asked. “Heard Sammy talking about some Zoe chick earlier. Wonder if it’s your Zoe-san you seem to mention.” Then the guy laughed.

His amusement went out the window as he looked at Jericho.

“I’ll keep an eye on her. She’s a cute little thing. Wouldn’t want some little guy getting to her before you.” Chris waved and then swayed off deeper into the arena, humming his own theme song.

“Something wrong, Omega?” Adam asked from behind him. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. I’m going to get ready to go. I need a shower.” Kenny said before lifting a hand in a wave. “I’ll see you guys around.” He called out to Riho in Japanese, letting her know what was going on.

He needed to get his mind off of Zoe-san because it was starting to eat at his core.


	3. Deal or No Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe comes to work the next day to tear down and prepare the stage for it’s return trip to Florida. Only Kenny shows up to talk to her about her sudden personality change the night before. 
> 
> Kenny makes a business deal with Zoe, because names mean a lot to him, he shares what he wants her to address him as. Then he offers to take her to dinner after work.

Zoe sighed as she got to the back entrance of MGM Garden Arena. She had spent a restless night tossing and turning in her Motel 6 bed trying to forget the hurt on Kenny’s face. It was a confusing hurt but she had to. Graham would have had a hissy fit and she would probably have lost her job. He was watching her like a damn hawk and it sucked. Not only that, she had to go hide under the ring when she heard Sammy Guevara, the pest, coming towards the ring she was trying to start to undo.

Everything just ended up in a rut and she decided to get an even earlier start on disassembling the ring and stage for transport back to Florida. She was supposed to come in at eight, because of her lack of sleep, she arrived at seven. If she started early she could finish early, get some sleep and prepare to leave for the next day.

Of course it had to be made difficult when she arrived. Well, difficult and uplifting when she found out some news about her boss.

“Graham left instructions for today.” Carlos the Assistant Set Director said to the gathered workers. “He called in sick but made sure everyone was doing something. You’re going to be helping with ring tear down- make sure to label everything before you crate up.” He told Zoe as he handed her a clipboard of all the things that needed to be packed up.

At least Graham wasn’t there. Maybe that meant he was A) probably hung over, B) Had a hooker, or C) both A and B, and possibly cocaine. She could hope he would get caught with Option C one of those days.

Zoe was given a log sheet of all the pieces that went to the ring, which also included padding around the ring, and barriers. Anything associated with the ring was to be catalogued as it was disassembled and put away, labeled and then shipped back to Florida. Much of the set had been used before, like from the Press Conference back in January, the one that she didn’t get to go to. She did help cater the after party for the performers though.

Come to think of it...

Zoe stopped writing because of a thought. It had been a hectic night that night. It was like a catered dance hall in the training center. Flashing lights and loud music. People who were there were mostly the performers and those who were invited. Like the other twenty some odd staff members, she remembered how ridiculous they looked wearing white button up tops that glowed under the black strobe lights. It was hard to tell who were performers and who were just normal people, as her job was to fill the champagne glasses. But some of those people were nice enough to drop by and talk to her.

“You look lost in thought there, Zoe-san.” She jumped when hearing Kenny’s voice directly to her left.

He wore a black drawstring sweatshirt that didn’t hide his muscles. Add to that, Kenny wore jeans that didn’t hide the muscles of his legs, and sneakers that looked well worn. Zoe almost tripped over the stack of mats she was supposed to be labeling before her coworker could put them in the various crates that were lined up to use.

“Mr. Omega,” she said and he stepped closer.

“Why are you calling me that, Zoe-san? Did I do something to offend you last night?” He asked in a tone that almost sounded sad. Offended? How could he think that he offended her.

She licked her lower lip. “About that, you’ll have to understand. My supervisor told me that I am not allowed the fraternize with you, and I’m guessing those other executive Vice Presidents.”

“That’s stupid.”

She shrugged. “I just want to do a good job. So can you respect that?”

He shifted his stance a little, hands on hips as he looked at her with something behind his slightly long five o’clock shadow and wavy curls.

“Tell you what, let’s make a deal. You can be as professional as you want when we’re working shows together. But if we ever meet up outside of work, you have to call me Kenny, And I’ll address you only as Zoe. Got it?”

“What does that mean, -san at the end of a name?”

“It’s a form of respect, like calling me Mr. Kenny or Mr. Omega, Omega-san is another way of addressing me, since I am a higher rank in the work force.”

“You won’t feel offended if I called you Omega-san?”

“Only for business. Talk shop all you want but it has to be Kenny outside of it. Agreed?”

“Only if we see each other after work, sure.” She responded.

He held a hand out to her. “Shake on it.”

“I don’t want to be touched.” She said as she looked from his hand towards his face. “I don’t like people touching me.”

* * *

“A woman has the right to say yes or no. I’ll respect that.” He lowered his hand.

Zoe-san seemed to ease up when he said that. Had she been hurt before? Maybe she had been hurt and it was her way of keeping a safe distance.

“So what are you doing?” He asked.

“Cataloguing everything associated with the ring, making sure that it is all packed away for shipping. Which I should probably get back to.” She hugged the clip board to her chest.

He looked at the other person that was dismantling the ring behind her. “I suppose I’ll let you get back to it. Although,” he trailed off a little as an idea seemed to pop into his head. “Tell you what, I’ll give you my personal mobile number and you call me when you’re done with your job.” He pulled out the little piece of scrap paper he used earlier. “Call me and we can go do something. I’m cleared up for the day. I usually take a day off after a major show anyway.”

“I was just planning on sleeping, because my flight leaves tomorrow, Omega-san.”

Kenny smiled. She wavered on his work title, still not used to addressing him as such. It was adorable, if not a little irritating.

“I would enjoy your company.”

“Don’t you have executive work and stuff to do?”

She was stalling. Quaint.

“I told you, I take a day off after a major event like last night.” He waved the paper around. “So, are you going to take it?”

He hoped she would.

Zoe-San stared at the piece of paper. She worried her lower lip and glanced back at her coworker. She reached out and took the green slip of paper and shoved it in her slacks’ pocket.

“I expect a call from you, Zoe-san.”

* * *

Zoe checked her watch, it was already noon, and she was on her lunch break. Most of the ring had already been taken down and the ropes had been labeled and packed away. Some of the haulers were already taking things out to the semi-trucks in the loading bay. At least she didn’t have to wheel out those heavy boxes, and she wasn’t with the tear down crew working on the stage.

She pulled out the piece of paper. She had never been given a man’s number before. None had ever taken an interest in her, at least the ones that didn’t have ill intentions.

She looked at the numbers spelt a little cookie, or strange. His penmanship needed work. What was that?

He included something that was definitely not English, or English alphabet. Was that a Japanese symbol? Kanji? No, Kanji was different, had radial lines and stuff. This wasn’t...

Putting her sandwich in her mouth, Zoe pulled out her personal cell phone. Work cell phone was for work only, as this was her break time she had to Google Japanese alphabet.

It wasn’t Hiragana but Katakana. Katakana, from what she knew, was basically the Japanese letters for Foreign things. Figuring out what the Katakana said was the difficult part. It was like trying to decipher a code. After trying a few different combos, she realized what the squiggles meant.

The Katakana spelt out her own name: Zoe.

Her sandwich almost dropped out of her mouth as she stared at the cell phone number written on the piece of paper. He had written her name in Katakana. Why?

She stared at the Katakana alphabet and started to read some of the things associated with the language. Well if she was going to be working around Japanese speaking people, it wouldn’t hurt to learn a part of the language, at least in written form to help communicate if she ever needed to talk to them.

“Help,” she searched it out.

She managed to eat only half of her sandwich, but she drank her water while trying to learn some basic Katakana stuff. Wardrobe was a little hard, she settled with closet. Makeup was iffy at best but she did practice her name in Katakana just for giggles, if nothing more than to get used to the style of the squiggles and swirls that the language had.

She did manage to learn Nihon-go basically meant the Japanese language. Go represented a language, at least that was what she understood. She could greet with a Konnichiwa, that was easy. Then there was something genki desu wa, what was how are you? Some of the info out there was hard to understand because not one source was the same twice no matter where she looked.

Learning another language was hard. Although while looking at Katakana there was a children’s learning Katakana book for sale. That would come in handy. The reviews were good. Might as well try her hand at it.

She bought it.

By the end of her work, the stage was almost put entirely away, the ring was done did and out of the way and it was only four in the afternoon. With only her lunch that did nothing to fill her up, and a promise to keep, Zoe stood outside the MGM Garden Arena and called Kenny.

“Konnichiwa, Zoe-san. Are you finished?” He asked.

She took a deep breath. “Yes, I am. I’m standing in the back of the Garden Arena. I wanted to call when I got outside.”

“I’m at the MGM Grand Hotel, I can meet you outside of it if you’d like.”

“I...” she wanted to decline, she said she would call him. She was tired and she didn’t feel like doing much of anything else. But it didn’t matter. “I’d rather not. I have an early flight tomorrow and I just don’t feel like it.”

She could hear him moving around in the background of his call.

“Are you hungry?” He asked.

Yes, she was. Zoe drew in a breath and let it out slow, but said nothing to what she was thinking.

“Tell you what. You join me for a meal here at the hotel, it’s in a public setting and there will be other people around. This way you don’t feel threatened. Eat for an hour with me and I’ll let you go to your hotel and sleep. How about that? Deal?”

Food called her name. She just wanted something that wasn’t a hand made, processed turkey meat. She needed real food.

“It’s going to be about a ten minute walk but I’ll be there. I drove carpool with a few others from my Motel 6.”

“They’re making you stay at a Motel 6? There isn’t one for at least six miles.”

How would he know that?

“Well, it’s all that I could afford. I’m hanging up now, Kenny. I’ll be at the front of the hotel in ten minutes.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

She hoped he wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I have more to come but it’ll be in slow sessions. I’m going through dialysis for the first time and it’s draining me.


	4. Dinner at the Grand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe meets Kenny at the MGM Grand Hotel where he’s staying and after some minor issues, agrees to have dinner with him.
> 
> Kenny learns a fair good amount about the woman that he’s slowly starting to respect, and admire. Maybe a simple dinner with her will liven things up.

**Dinner at the Grand**

Kenny was waiting outside when Zoe walked up. With the sun shine on his hair, it looked multicolored. Darks to blondes to darks again. He was ruggedly handsome with his beard, but he wasn’t wearing the sweatshirt from earlier. Zoe figured he would be inside waiting, out of the heat that had already started to make her clothes stick to places on her that definitely shouldn’t be sweating. No, he had to be standing just outside the doors, in the shade of a column and he had to smile at her when she walked up probably looking like a mess of a human.

He didn’t look like a mess of a human. He wore a basic t-shirt that had some sort of logo on it that made no sense to her, which didn’t hide his physical fitness. He wore a pair of shorts that definitely didn’t hide the calves of a well muscled man. The tennis shoes were the same from earlier and looked well worn.

“Konbanwa,” Kenny said as she walked up to him. 

She blinked a little. “You, too.”

The smile had yet to leave. “It means good afternoon.”

“Konbanwa?” She tried to repeat it, a force of habit sometimes. The off chance she met someone who spoke a different language, she tried to repeat the words just to see if she got it right.

“Close, your pronunciation is a little off. I struggled with the ending as well. Repeat after me.”He said the word again.

Zoe imitated how he said the word. Kenny didn’t seem to mind that she was trying to learn just one word of a language he knew by heart. He was patient as she went slower to get the feel of how the syllables rolled around on her tongue.

“How long have you been speaking Japanese?” She asked as he opened the door for her to the hotel.

“I started learning the language since I was about twenty-two. So, about fifteen years. I’m a naturalized citizen there as well.”

“Doesn’t being an Executive VP make going back to your country hard?” She asked.

“It will, especially when we get approval for a televised show. But I have to make sacrifices sometimes, you know. Although, I am going to Florida after this, meetings and such. Can we not talk about the job, though? It’s really not that fun.”

“Then what do you do when you’re not doing your jobs?”

“Video games. Do you play?”

“Not since I was a teenager. I was...” how could she tell him the truth without telling the whole truth. “I was pretty poor growing up. It was hard enough just to get food to eat. I think I had a Sega, and one of the games was a fighter game, it had a trio and one of them was a woman...I don’t recall the name but I remember I would play it all the time, along with Sonic the Hedgehog.”

“It sounds like Final Fight fight to me. That was a good game. Capcom even ported over their characters to the Street Fighter series once Sega went nose down. I played as Cody Travers for their live action trailer for the character announcement.”

“Oh. I see. But, yeah. I didn’t have a lot of video game experience growing up so I don’t even play them now.”

They walked across the entrance to the hotel. There were still signs up saying something about Starcast, the wrestling convention that apparently was happening at the time of Double or Nothing.

“So, what would you like to eat?”

Zoe shrugged. “I don’t know.” She tried to fall into his step, but with how short she was she kind of had to jog to keep stride with him.

He stopped and she ran into him. Zoe took a step back and looked at the man as he shifted to the side.

“You know, you’re going to have to decide what you’re going to eat.” He said. Kenny lifted his brows. “If you’re worried about eating in front of me, don’t be.”

“I’m not of the opinion you’re buying me food.”

“You’re not?” His brows raised ever so much. “I thought it was customary a man treats a woman with respect and that he should treat her to at least one free meal.”

Where was this conversation going? Where was he taking it and why? Zoe wanted nothing more than just turn around and walk away, to go find a place that she herself could afford. So she played a little game.

“You say you are a naturalize Japanese citizen, do you know any good Japanese restaurants around here?”

His brows crept higher. “You want Japanese food?”

“A man should be respected as much as a woman, if they are going to act as equals. Plus I haven’t really eaten Asian food in general in my life. But, whatever the total comes to, you pay half and I pay half, to add up to the equal amount.” She crossed her arms, which mimicked his stance he had taken.

“Okay, deal. You’re in luck, there is an Asian restaurant here at the hotel.”

With how massive the restaurant was, it wasn’t surprising that they had an Asian place in there. They had to walk a fair distance, bypassing what seemed like tourists, and people still attending the conference that was winding down for the day.

“Is today the last day for the conference thing?” She asked.

“Yep, basically.” Kenny answered.

“Are all your appearances for it over? Do you have anymore?”

“Stop talking about the job.” He said as he gave her side glance. “I just want to have fun and forget about work for one day. Don’t you do the same?”

“I don’t really do anything. I read a lot.”

“Why do you read a lot?”

She shrugged. “I guess to have something to do. I only really have Internet at home and some streaming services, I don’t have cable television because there’s nothing on it. Most of my entertainment comes from work.”

“Like what?”

“The Press Conference After Party. Us on staff looked like legless ghosts.”

He laughed that breathy laugh again. It sort of sounded like a giggle.

“Sometimes I help out with the special needs children that are brought through for day activities. It seems like most of the time I’m on food duty or clean up, so I see a lot of interesting people come through.”

Kenny motioned her to turn left down one of the larger halls. The smell of food was stronger now, as there seemed to be a food court scattered through out the area. Some were just little take out areas, there was even a bar of sorts that had a line of about six people waiting for drinks.

“Page?” Kenny asked one of the men that they passed at the said line.

* * *

Kenny hadn’t expected to see Adam Page there. Let alone buying a beer at almost six in the afternoon.

“Hey, Ken, what’s up? Just getting a refill.” The other Elite member said from the front of the line. “What’s going on with you? Who’s she?” Adam gestured to Zoe.

“Why are you drinking this early?”

“Man, lay off. This is my day off too, you know. I can do what I want.”

“Can you get back to the room on your own?”

His friend laughed as if it was a joke. It wasn’t but it wouldn’t be the first time Adam Page ended up passed out somewhere he shouldn’t have been.

“I’ll be fine. You go play games with the pretty little lady next to you. I’ve got my own fun going on.” Adam said as his drink came through the window. “See you later, Lover Boy.”

Kenny scrubbed a hand over his face and turned to look at Zoe. She stood with her arms crossed in front of her, but slightly behind him just the same. Zoe didn’t look at Adam, she was looking somewhere else.

“Zoe?”

She looked at him. “Sorry, I...I was lost in thought. Is your friend okay?” She watched Adam walk off.

“Hangman has his own vices. He’ll be fine, I think. Come on, where we’re going is this way.” He motioned toward one of the larger restaurants.

Kenny saw her looking somewhere that wasn’t where they were going. He didn’t outright see what was making her look like a meerkat on the lookout but there wasn’t much in the way of people around. Most anyone went around at night, it was the afternoon besides a few salary men who were lining up to various drinking stalls or going into the nearby restaurants.

Eventually, she did seem to settle down and they got to the restaurant without fail. The Asian food place was a buffet, and they were greeted by a young looking girl, whose eyes grew big when seeing him.

“Just two today?” The waitress asked.

“Yes, us two.” He motioned between himself and Zoe.

“Okay, that’s going to be twenty-four dollars and fifty-two cents.” The girl said.

Kenny pulled out his wallet and his credit card before Zoe did. He smiled as she watched the girl process their meal order and hand him the card back.

“I thought you promised we’d go half and half.” Zoe said.

“I’m sure you’ll pay me some way.” He smiled as he motioned towards the sitting room where there were booths and tables with chairs.

They sat at a table in the back, tucked away from other diners in the buffet. She didn’t eat a lot, but at least there were some Yakisoba noodles that he had been wanting for a while. Zoe chose egg rolls, a few select pieces of sushi and a glass of water.

“Now, you can ask me questions that don’t pertain to our jobs.” He leaned back as he used chopsticks to stir his noodles.

“Well,” she struggled with her own chopsticks to pick up the sushi. “It’s about friends, but you work with them, and you said you don’t want to talk about work.”

“Then you can ask.”

“Who else is EVPs because I have no idea who any of you are.”

“Okay. It goes, Tony Khan and his father are the Presidents of AEW, Cody is Vice President, and The Young Bucks and I are Executive Vice Presidents, and I cover the women’s division for the company.”

“Sounds tough for you. So Adam Page isn’t an executive?”

“Nor MJF. Or Cody’s brother Dustin. Does that answer it?”

She shrugged. “I just don’t know anything about you or your company. The only time I know I’m working around wrestlers is because of the lack of clothes they wear.”

He had stopped eating mid-slurp when she said that with disdain in her voice. Kenny saw her pushing around the sushi all the while she stared at it. In that moment, something was off. Something was wrong in her mind. He finished off his bite and leaned forward a little, inclining his head.

She looked at him when he spoke. “Do we make you uncomfortable? Do I make you uncomfortable?”

“Not you, no you’re fine. It’s the ones like Sammy Guevara that make me uncomfortable.” Zoe took a deep breath. “When working Daily’s Place, it was different than working on the road like now. This was my first time working a wrestling show. I guess I just got off on the wrong foot.”

“Just remember, I’m here if you need help.”

Those eyes, those blue eyes as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, looked at him the same way a scared child to a parent. Uncertainty radiated from her, leaking out around her like an aura. She didn’t have to say what she was feeling, in a way he could almost feel what she was feeling.

“Okay, my turn to ask a question. Where in the world, if you could, would you like to go to?”

“Don’t laugh, but I would like to go to Japan one of these days.” She said. “It’s not because of you but I have always liked mythology and myths of different cultures, but I did like Japanese mythology when I took it back in College. I minored in mythology but majored in history.”

“Really? That’s an interesting combination for studies.”

She shrugged. “History never bothered me as much as math did. Science is an iffy subject, so if you get too far into Chemistry and algebra at the same time then I start falling asleep.”

Kenny laughed. She seemed to ease up after that. He told her he never really finished college before advancing his wrestling career. Or how he stopped ice hockey before going fully into wrestling.

“Would it be wrong to ask you if you won a championship title anywhere?”

“It’s not wrong but not something I want to discuss either. I have won several prestigious titles and trophies, but nothing you would know about.”

“So you’re an accomplished man.” She managed to pick up one of the sushi piece and got it into her mouth.

They talked and laughed about things. From video games to Japan in general, to lives in Florida. She had refilled her water twice and gotten some honey chicken and white rice for a second helping. Zoe seemed to be a little more calm as she talked mythology and history, even she mentioned Japanese history he hadn’t heard of and how she lived at the edge of Native American reservation and grew up around their mythology. He recounted some First Nations of Canada that he vaguely recalled from his Winnipeg childhood.

She looked at her phone as they were leaving the restaurant. “Oh no, it’s almost eight. I have to get back to my hotel and get some sleep before I have to leave tomorrow.” She started to dial something. “I’ll call for an Uber. And no, you are not paying because you lied about going halves on the meal.” She even gave him the stink eye to add insult to injury.

He let her win that round.

They went to stand outside the hotel waiting for the Uber to show up. Just outside on the steps, where he had waited for her arrival earlier, they stood in a calm silence.

“Now that I have your phone number,” she spoke up. “Would it be wrong to text you periodically, just to see if you’re okay?”

“I could use a new friend.” He smiled at her.

Zoe smiled in return. It was the slow kind, the one that took time to produce and to maintain. But when that smile was in place, it made her entire face glow.

The Uber pulled up and he opened the door for her. “Safe travels, Zoe.”

“You, as well, Kenny.” She said as she buckled herself in.

He watched the car drive off. For once, it felt normal, almost too normal. Though they had a few bumps along the way, having Zoe around to talk to didn’t seem all that horrible, especially since she didn’t know anything about him or his past, and the work he’s done.

But something was still off, she seemed to be closed off and hiding behind a wall of emotion. Maybe he could figure it out the longer they got to know each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this is getting good for you guys. I am really enjoying the weird relationship between Kenny and Zoe.


	5. Fyter Fest Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s AEW’s first Fyter Fest Pay-Per-View. Not only does her boss know that Zoe was with Kenny at one point, Kenny rushes up to her and basically begs for her help.
> 
> Not once, but twice, Kenny has come to Zoe for help when he can’t get it elsewhere. What he doesn’t know is she’s already on thin ice with her boss and then he finds Guevara giving her a problem after his part in the show.

**Fyter Fest Fun**

It had almost been a month, if a little less, the last time Zoe had seen Kenny Omega. Sure they would text, but never once did she try to call him. Their texts were almost always:

_**How are you?** _

_**I’m good, how are you?** _

In the month that she had last seen Kenny, she had learn about twenty common things in Katakana and managed to write her name in it as well. So when she arrived at Fyter Fest in Orlando, Florida she had two ID badges, one in English and the other a basic ID card with her name in katakana. She had learn some basic Japanese customs, like when presenting something to someone she bowed and held the item with two hands. Simple basic greetings, at least try to say them as correctly as possible. And a new sense of worth with at least trying to be respectful of a whole group of people.

She was screwed if she needed to help any Spanish speakers.

Graham looked at her after she had signed in for duty. “I’ve been hearing things lately.” He said in a tone that she had heard a million times over in her life growing up. “Also, I may have seen something when we were in Vegas but I wasn’t sure until now.”

She stayed quiet as she waited for what he had to say.

“Word is getting around the you were seen with an executive. Come to think of it, I think I saw you myself.”

Which one, smart ass. There are like four to six in this company. You have to be specific. Not that she was going to say that out loud, she did think it though.

“I thought I said you weren’t allowed to be anywhere near the executives.”

“My life outside of work is my business. You have no authority over me when I’m off the clock.”

“Did you just talk back to me?”

Did you just sound like my last foster dad? That wasn’t a question she was willing to ask him outright. She wasn’t going to give him the benefit of knowing anything other than her name.

“Zoe-san, are you working?” Kenny asked as he strolled up.

“I’m waiting for orders from my boss, Omega-san.” She wanted to laugh at the look on her boss’s face. It was hilarious, like he had swallowed bad coffee again.

“Oh, well then you wouldn’t mind if I borrowed her for a little bit? We’re doing a skit for YouTube and we need to interact with backstage staff and I thought of you, Zoe-san.”

“She’s doing something for Wardrobe...and catering and a few things. I need her. Sorry.” Graham stammered out.

“It looks like you have all of those things covered. I’ve already checked with others and I figured Zoe here would look better on camera.”

“I don’t know the first thing about acting, I was never even in a play as a child. You really want me to act for your Youtube channel?” She finally asked.

“Just a small bit. You will get paid extra, and all you have to do is shrug.” He sounded so proud of that statement, like it meant nothing to her.

“Just shrug?”

“Yep, that’s all you have to do. Oh and look confused.”

“I think I can handle that. I’m still confused now.”

“See, we planned on our attire going missing, and during the show we’re looking for them. You just have to shrug and we’ll run by you. Got it?” Kenny asked her as he pulled her away from her boss.

“Sure, I think so.” She said.

She didn’t think her boss was going to let her get away with disobeying his orders. But then again, Kenny had superiority over him and could over rule Mr. Graham’s decision. As long as he chickened out when an executive like Kenny was involved, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

Zoe was introduced to the two men that were known as The Young Bucks. Both men were nice enough, it was Nick who spoke up first.

“Oh, so you’re the Zoe-san that Ken here seems to be fond of.” And he was promptly slapped up side the head by his brother. “Hey, come on. It was just...”

Kenny apparently didn’t care for where the conversation was going and did the same. He wooped the guy up side the back of his head as he glared.

“Kenny-san, you don’t need hurt the guy.” She said. “Is how you say sorry, Gomennasai or Sumimasen. Gomennasai or Sumimasen, Nick. That is as far as I can go for some basics.”

“You’re learning Japanese?” Kenny asked her.

“Pieces, here and there. If I have to help say like Riho or any others that don’t speak English, I thought it would be more respectful to at least muddle my way through some basics. I memorized twenty useful Katakana, my cell phone has a writing function that I can use.” She flipped over her second ID tag she had made. “To make it easier for them to know I work for the company. My issue at the moment is getting the formal and informal words mixed up.”

It was how he smiled that made Zoe’s stomach quiver.

“Thank you.” Kenny said as he smiled. “

“So, what do I have to do?”

They had come up with a storyline for Fyter Fest, that they would lose their ring gear and then they would show up dressed like Street Fighter characters. Zoe could see that working out in their favor, it was funny even if she had no idea what a Street Fighter was. They had her stand in one area next to some shipping boxes as a cameraman followed them.

“Have you found them?” She heard Kenny ask.

“No, have you?” Nick asked.

“Why would I ask you if I had?”

Matt groaned. “I can’t believe we lost our gear. Are you sure you brought them?”

“I brought my own crap, I can’t say for your stuff.” Kenny looked around then spotted Zoe. “Hey, you.”

She looked at him and then pointed to herself.

“Yeah, you. You haven’t seen any gear bag with our names on them have you?” Kenny asked her.

Zoe shook her head, shrugged her shoulders and held up her empty hands. He sighed, thanked her and ran off, the two other men followed behind with the cameraman on their heels.

She laughed to herself once they cut, no longer needing to act.

“That was awesome. You did good, Zoe-san.” Kenny said when he got back to her.

“You’re welcome, glad I could help. But I have to get back to work. My boss really seems to need me.” She said. “But if you need anymore help like that in the future, I’ll be happy to do it, Kenny-san.”

Zoe waved at the two brothers before she left to go back to her real job.

* * *

Kenny, after he was finished with the women’s matches for Fyter Fest needed help. He had an idea as to what to do, but he needed an extra set of hands, and a set of eyes at his back. Nick and Matt had gone off to get ready for their part in the show and he only had about twenty minutes until he had his match with The Young Bucks.

“Zoe-san, I need you.” He said once he found her in the central catering area.

She put down her book and stood up. “Sure. What is it? Are you okay?”

“Two things, can you help with this temporary hair dye, and write a Kanji symbol on my back.” He looked down at her.

“Okay, but you’re going to have to show me.” She handed him her phone and took out a stylus pen. “You can write on the screen, I’ll have to copy it from there.”

He handed her the red paint he had been carrying around.

Kenny wrote the Kanji for Akuma on her phone, and then showed it to her.

“Seems easy enough. Which point should I start with? I’ve never written Kanji before.” She said as she looked from her phone to him.

Kenny showed her how he wrote the symbol before he turned around so she could get access to his back. He glanced over his shoulder when she pulled out one of the chairs and then stood on it.

“If you haven’t noticed, Omega-San, I’m short. It’s easier if I work at eye level. Now, let’s see.” She said. “After this what else do you need?”

“I need to dye my hair red.”

“Why?” She asked as she started to press the paint into his back and shoulders.

“I’m going out looking like Akuma. The Young Bucks are dressing like Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter.”

“And Akuma is a Street Fighter, as well?” She asked.

“Yes. And I was hoping you would be able to watch the match this time.”

“I don’t think I can. I have work to do and I’m almost finished with my break.” She said as she finished the last stroke of the Kanji. It wasn’t a hard one to do but it was good enough.

“Can you come out after the show? We’re having a party at a club nearby.” He hoped she would have said yes.

“Sorry, I have tear down duty again. Now, turn around so I can work on your hair, Omega-san.” She said.

When he did, his stomach dropped as did his eyes a little. She still was a few inches shorter than him even if she stood on the chair. As she prepped the hair dye, he watched her closely. Her face was set in stone, in concentration that he admired in the woman. She reached up and started to apply the dye into his hair.

“So, your Akuma character has red hair?”

“Pretty much. Wild red hair.” He closed his eyes as her fingers scraped across his scalp. “He’s the negative persona of Ryu.”

“If I’m correct, Ryu wears the white outfit and Ken wears the red outfit. Karate Gi outfits, correct?” She asked.

“I can show you some time if you’d like.”

He heard her laugh a little. “Maybe, when I’m not working so hard on the road.”

Kenny had to lower his head so that Zoe could get access to the back of it. As she massaged more of the dye into his hair, she seemed to know what she was doing.

“You said you still work at Daily’s?” He asked.

“When I’m not on the road. Yes.”

He had to ignore the feeling of her pulling at his hair. His hands clutched at his sides as she lightly tugged to drag more of the dye through his hair.

“You wouldn’t be bothered if I stopped by to say hi?”

She sighed. “If that’s what you want. I can’t stop an executive from doing something.”

Good, he had a few ideas of what he could do with her. If she was sincere about trying to communicate with the Japanese wrestlers, he could teach her more about Katakana and the language...

“There, all done, Omega-san. Just in time, I have two minutes before I have to get back to work.” She said as she let go of his head.

Kenny realized something. “I know, you don’t like to be touched...”

“Kenny,” She broke the agreement but the way she said it was as if she were talking to a friend. “You needed help and I helped you. I wasn’t offended, or uncomfortable. If this is work related, then it needed to be done.” She held up her red colored hands. “You go and be safe, have fun in your match and I’m going to get cleaned up before I have to start working again. Tell the Young Bucks I wish them luck and safety in the match as well.”

She kicked the chair back under the table before she headed out of the catering area. Zoe stopped long enough to smile and bow to him.

That woman may have been small but Kenny found that she was respectful of him, and those he considered friends.

“Hey, Omega. You do know you’re not the only one vying for her attention, right?” Moxley said from nearby as Kenny was leaving.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You really don’t hang out with the normal roster a lot do you? Maybe you should, just to get an idea of what’s being said about your little Zoe-san.” The man actually grinned the maniac smirk he was famous for.

What were people saying about Zoe? The way Moxley sort of smirked about it, it didn't go over well with Kenny.

“Just be prepared for me to kick your ass after your match.” Kenny said.

“I’m ready, old man.”

“Isn’t your wife older than you?” He wanted to get the last word in. Ribbing of Moxley had began to actually be fun.

“From how Riho was watching, I think she might have a problem with you and the new woman.”

Riho was with their friend Michael Nakazawa, a long time friend of Kenny’s. They were talking to each other but Riho was watching Kenny real close.

The younger woman was like a sister, she was almost family. He couldn’t see her any other way.

Shaking his head of thoughts that didn’t pertain to his match, Kenny went out to look for The Young Bucks and their opponents for the night. He needed to focus, not on the new thing that had popped up in his life.

Once and for all, after he and the Young Bucks blasted through their match, red dye and all and his Kanji symbol having been smeared off, Kenny went to look for a bottle of water. He found the road agent Graham, talking to Sammy Guevara, and the man had his arm around Zoe’s shoulders. Her face bore a look of utter fear and or disgust.

“Zoe-san.” He spoke up as he looked at the group. “Come here.” He held his shoulders back as he looked at the overweight man and the younger wrestler.

She lowered her gaze and ducked under Guevara’s arm. It was the shift in her demeanor. Once she had been confident and respectful, but she had lost it all for who knew how long. The happiness left her pretty face had been nowhere to be seen, replaced by something akin to fear. 

“Hey, come on, Omega. She was fine with me. I can take care of her.” Guevara said.

“I highly doubt that. Zoe-san, if you have work to do go and do it or you can hang out with me.”

“Playing favoritism now? Just because you’re an executive, it doesn’t give you the right to take away my fun.” Guevara said as he crossed his arms.

“When it’s the safety of a woman, yes. I take great offense when two men crowd a woman who looks scared. I out rank you both, I override you at anything. She is a staff member, let her do her job. Go, Zoe-san.” He motioned her with his head and she nodded.

“Yes, Omega-san.” She said that quietly before she left the hall and headed for catering.

Graham gulped a little when Kenny looked at him. Graham had treated Zoe with utter disrespect and that wasn’t going to fly with him.

“I’m keeping an eye on the both of you. Just remember that.” He said before he was called to get ready for his part in Moxley’s match.

It was always his job to make sure the women were taken care of. As the head of the women’s division, he knew when not to overstep his boundaries with them but if it meant the safety and security of a female staff member that had been having issues with one of the wrestlers then he was going to step in and set everything straight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Write Up and Hang Outs is going to be the next chapter I’ll post in a few days.


	6. Write Ups and Hang Outs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe gets her first write up. 
> 
> Kenny finds out something about the woman that has so far intrigued him. If only he didn’t have others to make sure they didn’t do something stupid.

Once Fyter Fest was over, Zoe knew she had a twenty minute window before she had to start her tear down shift. She went outside, where the Orlando heat was dying and looked at her work phone just to check the time. She realized there was a message on her phone that came from her boss’s boss, whom she only met once when she was hired for the road crew.

“Notice of written discipline. Insubordination.” She read out loud. “Two more write ups will result in a discipline hearing. What the actual hell is this?”

She followed orders, she did what she had to do. It had to be a mistake.

Graham’s unwritten rules, she sighed at the thought. She helped Omega-san. Zoe ran her hand over her face. How could she be so stupid? He threatened her boss. Maybe Graham had taken it out on her when the EVP said what he said. Zoe had heard Kenny say those things to Guevara and Graham.

“Zoe-san? What are you doing out here?” She turned to look at Kenny. He walked up, dressed in regular clothes with a backpack slung over one shoulder. “Are you okay? I thought you were on tear down tonight.”

“I’m, fine, Omega-san. I get a twenty minute break after a show to give the performers a chance to leave before I start tear down.” She said.

He stared at her, his brows furrowed as if he knew she was lying to him. It wasn’t lying, she told the truth. She just didn’t tell him what she was really thinking. That he caused her to get written up. Even as he stood a little too close for comfort, with her back to the wall of the building, he stared right into her eyes.

“Sumimasen, I’m just worried that something happened to you.” He said. “Did Guevara do something?”

“Omega-san,” she sighed and tried to smile. “Nothing happened. Everything is okay. I’m just tired and want to get tear down started so I’m not taking extra time tomorrow. With the show being in Florida, and with tomorrow being Sunday, I have to be at Daily’s Place bright and early Monday.”

He continued to stare at her. He was a smart man, she knew it and it scared her that he could think that she was hiding something, which she was.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt.” One of Zoe’s co-workers, Fletcher McFarland, walked out. He adjusted his rainbow pride lanyard. “Zoe, I just wanted to let you know that I, uh, switched shifts with you. I’m not going to be on tomorrow for tear down. I hope that’s okay. I’m taking your spot tonight though.” He smiled at her as he held up his work cell phone. “I wanted to text you but I figured you’d want to know from me directly.”

“Oh, uh, are you sure? I don’t mind staying...”

“No, no. You need a chance to relax. Go hang out somewhere and have fun. I can get it done here. Graham left already, said something about not feeling good. I figured you had enough of work, and my grandmother isn’t doing too good so I figured we could switch. You’re really wonderful with shift switching at Daily’s.”

Fletcher was lying through his teeth, his grandmother was dead. Fletcher had planned on meeting up with his boyfriend after the show, but he decided to switch with Zoe for some reason.

“If you’re sure. I appreciate it. Are you going to tell Graham?”

“Tell him what? As long as the work gets done, he’ll never know. From what I heard, he was dickhead to you. Oh sorry, Mr. Omega.”

“No, you’re right about the dickhead part.” Kenny said. “So, since you’re not working tonight, want to go to a club? I like to make sure that the women’s division doesn’t get hassled at clubs they go to. I don’t drink, so I usually cart them around.”

“I don’t really do clubs. As you know I’m not a drinker...”

“You need to have some fun in your life, Zoe.” Fletcher said. “You work too much. Let your hair down, have some fun for a little bit before you turn in and head here tomorrow.”

“Fine, but I don’t want to stay out passed ten.” She put her foot down with that.

“I think that’s fair. Come on, The Bucks and I drove separately so you’ll be driving with me.” He motioned for her to follow him. So that is what she did, she followed the executive to his rental car.

He walked at her side.

“So now that you and I aren’t on the clock, you can call me Kenny again.” He said.

She closed her eyes. “Of course. And that means you can call me Zoe.”

“Of course.” He mimicked her. “But I at least get to hold a door open for you.”

She shook her head. “You are weird.”

There was no denying that. Although one of his rules was she wasn’t allowed to talk about the job outside of it, so that gave her a reason to not talk about the write up. She would much rather enjoy spending time with someone who treated her like a real person.

Earlier in the night, when she was cornered by both her boss and Guevara, the younger man had put his arm around her and he carried on a conversation with her boss as if she wasn’t important. She said she didn’t want to be touch but Graham told her to be quiet, and Guevara did what he did. Kenny never pressured her into being touched.

Sure, he had asked her for her help with his appearance for his part in the show, which he still sported the red hair as they got to his rental, but he never once touched her. He respected her boundaries.

“Kenny,” she said as she sat in his passenger side seat.

“Yes,” he looked over at her as he started the car.

“Thank you.” She fiddled with the end of her shirt a little. “Domo, and I mean it.”

“For what, Zoe?”

“For respecting my boundaries. A lot of people brush it aside, they shrug it off as if I’m not serious when I don’t want people to touch me. Aside from helping you for the job, and even when you realized you had me touch you, you tried to apologize. So, what I’m trying to say is thank you, for not pushing my “no touching” boundaries.”

He smiled. “I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

She shook her head. “I think I’ve said enough to let you know how much more I respect you than my boss.” She leaned her hand on the door and pressed her head into it.

Maybe her first time at a club would help her clear her head.

Who was she kidding, she knew it wasn’t going to stop anything bad from happening. She expected the worse to happen.

* * *

Kenny followed the Young Bucks after they had left the Orlando parking lot. He glanced over at Zoe, who was buckled up and looking out the window at the nightlife of the city they were passing through. She still had a look of discomfort on her face. She was uncertain or something else was bothering her, he couldn’t decide which it was.

As he parked in the parking lot of the club some of the women had gone to, he watched them file into the place. Of course Adam Page was with them, he never passed up a good drink. Alcohol drinking was never something he had wanted in his life. Many First Nations people he knew back in Canada had a drinking problem growing up, he’d seen what alcohol could do to people. He didn’t want to follow the path substance abuse led through, but he also knew when to put a limit on other people. Sometimes, he had to limit Adam and it strained their friendship somewhat.

“Why don’t you drink, Zoe?” He asked asked the question because of their past conversations.

“I used to get hit a lot.” She answered with a tone that was darker than it should have been.

“Hit or hit on?”

“Just hit.” She looked over at him. “It’s one of the reasons why I don’t drink. And why I don’t like people touching me,” at least she seemed honest about that.

He nodded. “I’ll buy you a water or a pop then.”

“You say pop, I say soda. Let’s just not call it a fizzy pop, or a fizzy drink.” She smiled just a little. “Sparkling water of anything makes me gag.”

Kenny got out and opened her door for her. They went into the club where they were carded, not that he looked young but Zoe’s appeared to have been in her twenties to the bouncer. When they were finally let in, the music was loud and pretty annoying. The dance floor was semi packed and Kenny saw The Bucks waving him over from the bar.

“Over this way,” he pointed to the Bucks.

“Let’s go.” Zoe said over the loud music.

Matt greeted them when Kenny and Zoe approached the bar. “Hey, it’s Zoe-san, right?”

“Yes, but it’s Zoe outside of work. It’s an agreement Kenny and I have made.” She said as she leaned on the bar and smiled up at the men. “A coworker switched shifts with me to give me a night off.”

Nick laughed. “Seems like something only Kenny would do. Have you had a chance to watch any matches?”

“Here and there, but I’m usually running around doing tasks for other people. On any normal day I would be working at Daily’s Place, but I was also selected to work on the road for AEW. And another thing,” she motioned to Kenny’s face. “He hates talking about the job.”

“Yeah, that sounds like our Kenny.” Matt said.

Kenny shook his head. “Zoe, have you learned anymore katakana?” He just wanted to get off the topic of work, get her mind somewhere other than what was going on around them.

“As of today, no. I hadn’t the chance to communicate with anyone who speaks Japanese. Katakana seems to come in second to Hiragana, I couldn’t really understand that one and the Kanji, beside man and woman, I know nothing of that as well.”

“Why man and woman?” Nick asked.

“The last thing I would want to do when going to a restroom in Japan is to go into the wrong one.” She said.

“You’re going to Japan?” Kenny stood taller as he looked down at her. “When?”

“Maybe one of these days. I would like to go one of these days since I have been saving up for a while now.”

“You didn’t tell me this.” Kenny put his hand on the bar just behind her elbow. “Not in any of our text exchanges.”

“Well, it’s nothing really special. I just have to save up two grand for a travel package I have been keeping my eye on. It will be only a week but it will be a well worth it week. Since the last time we met, I have gotten my passport, and looked into a travel visa for Japan.”

She was serious, Zoe wanted to go to Japan and had already taken some steps to get there. Maybe he could help her. Maybe he could get her going in the right direction. He was planning on spending the month back home in Japan.

“I know that look.” She stepped back from him. “You’re not going to pay for my trip. That is the last thing I want you to do.”

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

“Uh huh, yeah right. From what I have gathered about you, Kenny, you go out of your way to make sure something gets done. You have high standards when it comes to people around you and what is going on as well.”

He smiled a little. “Your deduction is astounding, Zoe.”

She glowered at him. “I’m serious. You’re not paying for my trip. If I get paid enough for working on these pay-per-views, I’ll be able to head out in the fall on my own.”

“You’ll need a translator.”

“You are walking a thin line, you know that right?” Nick asked. “Hey, sorry, but we have a cowboy to look out for.”

Kenny craned his neck around. “Adam? I thought he was heading home to the wife.”

“I guess he’s having fun while he can.” Matt glanced around Zoe’s head. “Jericho and him seem to be having a drinking competition. And the women seem to have gotten a few hopefuls hanging out with them.”

A group of women wrestlers were congregated on the other side of the dance floor. When Kenny turned around to watch as some guys approached, considering that a few were native Japanese speakers, he worried about their well being.

“If you need to go over there, you should. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to the ladies on your watch. I’ll stay right here.” Zoe said.

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” He smiled at her before he walked away.

He had a job to do. The women didn’t need to be hassled by some guys that were probably drinking too much to even go home.


	7. Dangerous to be Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip to the club doesn’t go as planned.

**Chapter 7: Dangerous to be Alone**

Zoe watched Kenny walk off toward where the female wrestlers were. She wasn't worried as much, since the Jackson brothers were still with her.

"So, Zoe," Nick spoke up over the loud music. "Thanks for helping Kenny earlier, also you were awesome with the skit."

"Thank you. It was an interesting experience." Though her boss was an ass for writing her up the way it happened.

She closed her eyes as she recalled what had transpired when Kenny stepped in after his match. Graham had called her over to do another run but Guevara had noticed. He stood there talking about women to Graham as his arm was draped over her shoulders. She wanted to puke when his hand had grazed her breast.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked. He must have seen her face as she recalled the memory.

"Yeah, I just had a stressful work day. It's hard to leave it behind." She looked towards where Kenny was talking to the group of women. "Is he usually like this? With women?"

"A lot of the time, yes. We call it the Big Brother Syndrome. I think how he was always looking out for his sister, and his respect for female wrestlers in general. When he was training with WWE in the early days of his career, they treated women like crap at least in Deep South. But when he got to Japan, and women wrestling was as intense as the men's promotions, he started supporting them."

"It's been a while since I met anyone who took an active interest in women like that." She said as she watched Kenny.

"Kenny is the kind of person to look out for the well being of those around him. No wonder he's become your friend."

She watched as Kenny smiled at the women, spoke to them and from what Zoe saw, she could tell they all had respect for him. The women, even those he shared the Japanese language with, were laughing at something he said. It made what he did back at the show all the more important to her.

"Sorry, we have to go make sure Adam Page isn't going to get into a fight." Matt said before he and Nick walked off further down the bar towards the cowboy.

Zoe was left at the bar holding a glass of water. The song on the dance floor changed and she started to tap her foot to the club music. It was a song remix called Dura, she found she had an interest in foreign language songs, but lacked the ability to understand any of them.

"Sumimasen," she looked over her right shoulder at the Japanese man that had crept up on her. "Sorry, but you are Zoe-san, correct?" The man said.

"Hai, I am." She answered. She stood a little straighter.

"You've become friends with Kenny Omega, haven't you?" He asked. He wore similar clothing to what Kenny had worn that night. It wasn't much in the way of fashion but he looked comfortable in shorts, a simple t-shirt with some kanji on it and sneaker shoes.

"I guess. Do you know Kenny?"

"We've trained and partnered together for years. I'm Michael Nakazawa, I act as Riho's translator for her place in the show." The man had motioned to the woman next to him, who was a few inches taller than Zoe herself. "Kenny has mentioned you a lot, Zoe-san, but he hasn't tried to introduce us yet."

"Konbanwa," she said and bowed a little. "It's nice to meet you both." She tried to stand less as a threatening manner because of what Riho was giving off. "I've only met Kenny-san a few times and he invited me out here tonight. I usually work tear downs after the last two major pay-per-views but a coworker switched his shifts with me."

She waited while Michael translated for Riho. Riho said something and the man sighed.

"Riho was under the impress that you and Kenny were, more."

"More? As in dating more? Um, no Kentan or Zotan, if that's what you mean. Only Omega-san at work, and he is only Kenny outside of it."

A relationship between a couple in Japan the man had -tan at the end of a shortened name. Kentan would have been Kenny's title for boyfriend because Japanese didn't adhere to terms of endearment. How Riho and this man Michael thought she was dating Kenny was weird, she never did anything that would be perceived as such.

Riho asked something, which Michael responded to her in a way that made it look like he didn't want to ask the question. When it was apparent Riho wanted him to ask the question, Michael gave a sigh and turned back to Zoe.

"Would you like to go out with Kenny, in a real date?"

Zoe shook her head. "I am not interested in such a thing. Our working relationship is all that I can handle right now. I'm still not used to a friendship with someone who has a higher standing in the company than I do."

Michael translated. The look that Riho had was a little perplexing. How long had Kenny known these two? She was just a worker, a staff member with problems going on. She didn't need to worry about what a man like Kenny thought of her.

Riho said something, there was a word in there that Zoe thought she knew. Tomodachi, or something similar to that was the word for friend. Everything else in that sentence was a mystery to Zoe as she looked at the man of the group for a translation.

"Riho says that Kenny is always looking for friends. She shouldn't have jumped to conclusions with you, Zoe-san. She apologizes for her blatant misjudgment."

Riho stood a little straighter and bowed at a slight angle. Bowing was a sign of respect, and politeness in Japan, and it was still a little new to her.

It clicked in her head to pull out her phone. Taking her little stylus for her screen, Zoe brought up a blank notepad to write on. She wrote out the words ZOE and HELP in Katakana. "If you need help, I can help. Out of respect of Omega-san and the Nihon-go speakers, I am learning katakana to help communicate if they need it. I think that is why Omega-san likes me so much. I'm willing to learn your language and culture so you don't feel left out."

Michael smiled, laughed and translated for Riho. As the words came out of his mouth, Riho seemed to understand what the type of relationship Kenny had going with Zoe, respect and kinship because he apparently did the same when he lived in Japan for wrestling.

"We'll not disturb your evening. Riho," he said something to her in their language. After nodding, and waving, Riho left. Michael stayed around.

"I have to apologize for her. She's had a crush of sorts on Kenny for years now. Any time a new woman gets..."

"I'm not interested in a relationship with anyone, Michael-san. I'm having my own problems right now that doesn't need to include a confusing relationship on the side. While I appreciate Kenny-san wanting a friendship with me, I don't think it will move beyond that. Omega-san is basically a boss to me, I wouldn't want to jeopardize the working relationship that we have going on."

"Just the same, I am sorry for Riho's blatant disrespectful behavior. And when I say thank you for taking the time to learn Japanese and Katakana for our sake, it means a lot to us." He bowed a little deeper than how Riho did and then he left her at the bar as well.

Kenny turned to look at Riho when she touched his back. He smiled at the small woman and had to incline his head down to listen to whatever Riho was saying. Zoe saw him glance back over at her, at which point he smiled.

"Hey there, Sweetheart." She heard from behind her, which was followed by a hand creeping up to grasp her hip and part of her behind.

* * *

Kenny turned back to Riho as Michael made his way up to them. The group of female wrestlers were chatting with a few male fans that had come to intrude on their down time.

Michael clapped his hand on Kenny's shoulder. "Your friend is not alone." He motioned towards the bar.

As Kenny turned around he found Zoe had turned to face Guevara. The back of her head was to Kenny so he couldn't make out what she was feeling but after what he saw at the show, he told Michael to hold down the women while he went to see if Zoe needed her help. With how packed the club was, he couldn't see what Guevara was doing until he was feet from Zoe, and the shorter wrestler tried grabbing at Zoe's waist, but she shoved his hand off.

"I said don't touch me!" She yelled over the music.

Kenny grabbed Guevara by the back of the neck and shoved him back. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Guevara raised his hands. "Alright, alright, I was only trying to flirt with her. No need to go psycho boyfriend on me."

"If she says no, she means no. And don't pull that flirting bullshit on me. If I ever hear you did this again, I will happily do something about your contract and your position in this company."

The threat was useless, especially when Cody was in charge of the men's roster. Kenny controlled the women's, but it didn't mean Kenny had no sway over what happened in the ring. He would be happy to throw the little guy down a few rungs on the ladder regardless of Jericho scouting him out as a member of Inner Circle.

"I get it, I get it. I won't bother your girlfriend around you."

"I'm fucking serious, Guevara. Leave her and any other woman who say no alone. Do you got it?"

"I get it. I get it. Geez, I'm bouncing. See, here I go." He smiled over at Zoe, before sauntering off to some poor woman that had no clue who he was.

Then Kenny felt it. The small hand that didn't cover his forearm. While he had been seething, she laid her hand against his skin, soft and delicate like a flower. He looked at the hand and turned his head to look at her.

"Kenny," she only said. "Gozaimasu, Kenny. Thank you." She rubbed his skin with her thumb before releasing him.

She rubbed her face with her hands and turned back to the bar.

"I'm sorry, Zoe. I don't know why I had to be..."

"No, threat of employment is a good deterrent sometimes. I just...well, I'm not used to the attention especially when it comes from someone who doesn't take no for an answer."

"You will tell me now, right? I will do everything in my power to get Guevara away from you. You just have to tell me."

She nodded, but she didn't look at him. "I understand completely, Kenny. I will keep it in mind if he bothers me again. But only if at work. I can't control what happens outside of work."

That was true. She could have easily gotten the attention of the bartender, had she known what to do. But thanks to Michael for getting his attention to her in time.

Kenny waved over the bartender and asked for another water for Zoe. "Keep an eye on your drink this time. Hold in front of you at all times." He said when the glass was placed in front of her.

She picked it up and nodded. "Thank you. How about you show me what kind of a drinker Page is, because he looks unsteady on his feet." She motioned down the bar towards where the drinking competitors were still at. The Bucks were refereeing the event because of how Page could get.

"I don't want you out of my sight right now. But I need to make sure he's okay. Come on. Can I put my hand on your back?"

"Shoulder blade area is fine for right now." She nodded.

He took a deep breath and did what she said. Kenny placed his hand on her shoulder and steered her through the throngs of people coming and going from the bar. She may have stiffened up, but Zoe didn't make it obvious that she wasn't used to the touch. Maybe it was a start to a change in their friendship.

He wouldn't have minded giving her a hug.

Kenny and Zoe approached Adam, Nick and Matt. Zoe continued to hug her drink closer to her as she watched Adam down another shot glass of some alcoholic beverage.

"Having fun?" Kenny asked, which caused Adam to look back at him, along with Jericho.

"Sure am." Adam said.

"Hey, you're the chick Sammy's been hounding for a date." Jericho laughed at that when seeing Zoe.

Zoe said nothing, but Kenny did. "Yeah? Because he's been harassing her a lot more than simply asking her out."

"Harass? No, Sammy isn't that bad." Jericho said.

"When she tells him no, he doesn't listen. I've seen it myself."

"Well, I'll talk to him. Come on, I'm still one ahead of you, Page. Let's go." Jericho handed Adam another shot glass.

From the corner of his eye, Kenny say Zoe shake her head. She finished her drink and put it down on the bar. She stood with her arms crossed.

There had to be more that he could do to make her feel better. He needed to make sure Adam didn't get too wasted and that the women weren't being hassled.

It was hard being a boss, and having feelings at the same time.


	8. Cause for Alarm

**Chapter 8: A Cause for Alarm**

**Two Weeks Later**

Zoe heard her phone ping when she got off the bus at Daily’s Place. She looked at the notification and smiled when she saw that it was Kenny.

_**Konnichiwa, Zoe. How are you?** _

Kenny, the man that still asked if she was doing okay and if she needed help with something. She figured he would have maybe forget about what went down at that club two weeks prior. But no, he didn’t hound her with texts like she was sure some people would have, maybe three days a week.

 _**I’m okay. Getting in to Daily’s Place for my shift.** _ She sent it as sat behind the wheel of her car in the parking lot of Daily’s Place.

_**I’m at Daily’s. Meetings and the like. We’re in a break at the moment. I’ll let you go.** _

Why would he text her in the first place. She didn’t know, but she let it go as she walked into the worker’s entrance of the building.

Daily’s had several sections that were different. It was almost like a mall, with vendors and food court areas in one. There were the sports areas. Seeing as the Khans owned the Jacksonville Jaguars, an NFL team, some of that was incorporated into Daily’s Place as well. But with AEW becoming a thing, over the last couple of months Zoe found promotions for the company and events happening more frequent. There was even a shop set up for wrestling merchandise at Daily’s Place to help promote the various wrestlers of AEW.

After she put her things up in the locker in the workers’ area of her place of work, Zoe went to check what her tasks were for that day. There was a group of autistic children coming through, which was something she had worked with before.

“Anything new?” Zoe looked over at the woman that spoke to her.

Kierra Griffin was a worker that Zoe had worked with. They were usually put together when the autistic school brought it’s children through to do certain activities, and just to get used to being around people, and the fact that they were being taught how to deal with purchases of food and items and basic living things. Kierra also outranked Zoe, but Kierra didn’t show it off unless it was related to work.

“We’re on the school kids group though.” Zoe said.

“No I mean about Graham. That piece of crap didn’t show up for work yesterday and I got word he called in again.”

Kierra and Graham worked together as a different work group. Kierra couldn’t work the road, she had no real reason to not want to work on the road for the wrestling company, she just didn’t. When Zoe and Kierra worked together, they figured out how to do things efficient, with low stress on them and the kids. Nothing like how Graham’s supervisor role was when he was around Zoe.

Kierra was well known for hating Graham’s supervisor roles and would raise stink about it.

“I got written up.” Zoe told the other woman, who was just a few inches taller than her.

Kierra rolled her eyes. “What did you do that didn’t go well with Fat Ass?”

“I befriended an AEW Vice President.”

“Everyone knows that, but why does that matter?” She tugged on her overly long hair.

Kierra’s orangey blonde was in it’s normal braid. It hung low on her back, way lower than that. The tip hit just about the back of her thigh. Kierra could get away with the long hair, Zoe was afraid to let hers go beyond her shoulders.

As the two walked away from the workers’ locker room Kierra held the door open for her. “How is the road going? Anything that I need to know about? Anything good I should know about?”

“Well, it’s okay. I mean, I started learning some katakana and trying to get into hiragana because of the Japanese performers.”

“That’s nice. It’s good to at least acknowledge and understand the people you’re working with.”

They got to the food court area of Daily’s Place. Kierra was of higher rank to Zoe. She had assistant supervisor in her job detail but because of her sister Louisa being autistic and having a part time job with Daily’s Place, Kierra was saddled with working with the special needs school kids that came through from Monday, Wednesday and Friday from the various school programs around Jacksonville.

“What are the kids going to eat today?” Kierra asked the Food Coordinator.

“We’ve set up the Asian Bistro and the American Gourmet for them to choose from today. A few staff members are going to be at the tables with them through lunch. And you’ll be taking them through the merchant shops to let them buy something.” The Head Coordinator of the program said.

“When are the kids coming?” Zoe asked.

“In an hour. We have a few activities for them to do before lunch and the shopping can happen. Can you help them set up the tables and chairs?”

There were others on this work load, ten in total that would help the more functioning kids set up tables for their group activities and would be around to help. That was Zoe’s task.

She and a few others pulled out the tables to the main sitting area of the food court and she had to wrangle the stack of chairs, pushing them but since they were twice her height and more than what she could push, Zoe started to have a problem.

“Zoe-san, are you working?” She turned to look behind her shoulder.

Kenny, in a suit and slacks, stood behind her. One glance down at his feet, Zoe found he was wearing black sneakers. He still needed comfort when it looked like he was uncomfortable in the nice suit.

“I’m trying to. I can’t get these out and over there.” She said and motioned over her shoulder.

He said something in Japanese, but he nodded to the side. She stepped back and he took hold of the handle to the rig that was holding the stacks of chairs. Of course Kenny could easily pull the entire thing out of the closet near one of the food stalls.

“Could you halve the height, so I can push one half to the tables. The children I’m working with today are teenagers but won’t like to take down tall chairs.” She said. It was better to ask a tall man for help instead of him asking first. He’d already done that with asking if she needed help to move the stack of the chairs in the first place.

“Sure. What are you doing with children?”

“There are several programs that use Daily’s Place as a learning place. Today is a group of autistic students from a special school. They come here to eat, shop and do certain activities. That new garden area the Khans are putting in will be of some use when it’s finished.”

The both took a stack of chairs towards where the tables, circular tables that could be folded down in half, were being put out by a few of the other staff members.

“Mr. Omega, I didn’t think you were free from the confines of the meeting rooms.” Kierra said as she looked at the man.

“I came to talk to Zoe-san about something.”

“Zoe-san?” Kierra and the others looked between the two of them.

“It’s a respectful term in Japanese business. Omega-san is what I call him because he’s in a higher standing with the company.”

“Since we’re working today, business as usual.” Kenny said. “I wanted to ask you when your break is?”

Zoe looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost ten in the morning. “Not until one in the afternoon. Why?”

“Oh, just wanted to talk to you about a job.” The way he smiled, it didn’t bode well. “I have to get back to a meeting myself. One o’clock, I’ll be back. Sayonara, Zoe-san.” He waved and walked off towards the business part of the building.

Kierra smirked. “I think he likes you.”

“Nothing more than a friend, I think. It’s complicated.” Zoe said as she ran a hand through her hair. “So what’s next?”

“The kids should be coming soon, do you think you guys could go out and greet them off their bus and bring them in here. We need to make sure that the food stalls are ready.”

So Zoe did just that. She and the other six or so workers went outside and waited for the kids to arrive. But as the kids were getting off the bus, her road manager walked up to the building, not looking really happy. Hadn’t he called out of work? So either he was forced to come in and do something, or he was showing up for some reason.

Hopefully not for her.

He looked up at her as the kids talked excitedly about something. They were a little loud because they were excited, and one of them was already having a bad time about the entire thing. The man glowered at her, stopped and motioned for her to come to him.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Graham, I’m in the middle of helping with these kids.” She said. “Go talk to Kierra if you need something.”

He growled, or huffed growled as she interpreted it and then stomped off inside. It was all still audible for the kids to hear, some even asked her who the potato man was.

It was good to follow the rules, since she couldn’t leave her batch of three kids unattended.

* * *

Kenny had a lot of meetings that day. It was one meeting after another, and another. There were things that he didn’t know he needed to be around for but he did. At least he wasn’t alone, he could endure them with the help of The Young Bucks, Cody was around as well.

Finally the last meeting was about the next Pay-per-view that was going to happen within the coming month. Some of the work that Kenny had to do was needed, since NJPW last performed in Orlando several years prior. This was his planned Pay-Per-View and something he felt a special fondness for. But it didn’t start out great.

Someone was missing. 

“Not everyone is here. Where’s that other Road Manager? I told him to be here.” Tony Khan asked.

The head Road Manager, Mr. Davidson, was already in the room but the Assistant Head Road Manager wasn’t there. Graham had called out at first before he was forced to come in. Not that he cared, with the way Graham had treated Zoe the least time they were working together, Kenny could care less if the man was there or not.

Unfortunately he showed up about five minutes later.

“Oh good you’re here,” Tony said.

“I wanted to talk to a subordinate but she was too busy. I may write her up later for that.”

“You’d write up a person solely on the fact that she was doing a job?” Kenny asked. “That’s highly unethical.”

“She works for me, I get to decide what I do with her.”

Kenny almost stood up but Matt grabbed his elbow. Nick told him to stop.

“Still, that is unprofessionalism. If I get word that you wrote someone up on false pretenses you’ll be having a hard time.” Tony said. “Sit down, we have a Pay-Per-View to plan out.”

The Fat Bastard sat down next to the Head Road Manager, but he glared at Kenny instead. The talk centered on Fyter Fest, an event that Kenny had been planning for the better part of six months.

It was a play on Fyre Fest, an event that was highly controversial that happened some time before. There was another pay-per-view that he had been planning on, but it was brought up after a shooting that happened near one of the schools where the Young Bucks’ children went to. Fyter Fest would come first so that was the event they talked about.

Some of the women wrestlers that were going to be there were already planning and practicing their matches, so that was easy to convey. Kenny knew Jon Moxley was going to be there, so he and the other man had been talking about the show and what they wanted to do.

“I don’t think we need as many staff at Fyter Fest as we did in Vegas. It’s not that far, we can just hire others to work...” Graham said.

“No, we have enough people to cover that event.” Mr. Davidson said. “Why?”

“Well some of my subordinates...”

“Maybe if you stopped calling them that they might want to work with you.” Kenny said.

Kenny saw the fat man try to hide the fact that he rolled his eyes. “There is a hierarchy to work, I want to make sure that no one tries to go over my head, as it has happened before.” Graham looked at Kenny for a brief second. “A lot of those, underlings, aren’t doing what they are being told. What I say, goes.”

“No, what I say, goes.” The head said. “I am in charge, not you. The matter is over. We’re going to use the road staff we have.”

About ten minutes later, the Executives and the others in the meeting ended. It was the last one for the day and Kenny couldn’t wait to go see Zoe, since she was supposed to be on her break.

“Man, what the hell was the guy going on about?” Nick asked. “Subordinates, underlings, is he on a power trip or something?”

“He’s Zoe’s boss. He doesn’t mind treating people like shit.” Kenny said as he removed his jacket and draped it over his arm.

They caught the stairs down as Graham waddled his way to the elevator. They were on a second story building, all they had to do was walk down a flight of stairs.

“So, want to go grab some lunch?” Matt asked as if that would change the subject.

“I’m going to ask Zoe something. I may have to talk to her Daily’s Place supervisor about getting her to take time off.”

“You’re not actually going to ask her to come to Japan when she already said no.”

“I plan to ask for an assistant. There’s several Japanese based events that I have been asked to go to and I wouldn’t mind having someone there with me.”

“Why not just take Riho or Michael?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know, depends on what she says.”

They got to the dining area where he had seen her before. There were children, maybe those special needs ones that she worked with. They were all cleaning up, she and a few others were helping to fold up the table and helped the kids stack the chairs.

“Arigato gozaimasu, everyone.” He heard Zoe say once the cleaning had been cleaned. “Thank you very much for the help. I can’t wait to do this again.” She smiled and bowed slightly at the gathered kids as they were getting their things together.

“What does that mean?” One boy asked.

“How is it spelt?” A girl asked.

Those kids wanted to know more about the language she used, since Spanish was more prevalent in Florida. She answered their questions to the best of her ability. Kenny couldn’t help but smile.

“A coworker of mine is teaching me Japanese. I’m learning to read and write in Japanese as well.” She explained.

“All right everyone, your bus is here to pick you up. I’ll go get them. You have a visitor.” One of the other workers said and then pointed toward where Kenny and the Young Bucks stood out of the way.

“Domo, Kierra.” She said before she walked away.

Kierra and a few workers left with the kids. Zoe walked up to them.

“I’m still on the clock. I have about five minutes, Omega-San.” She said. “What can I do for you guys?”

“He wants to bring you to Japan.” Nick said so fast, Kenny didn’t have a chance to form a sentence.

“Why? I already told you that I was going through the proper procedures to get there on my own and in my own time.” She crossed her arms.

Kenny licked his lower lip as he took in her appearance. The one thing this budding relationship didn’t need was resentment in it. She waited patiently for him to say something.

He took a deep breath and found the will to form the words, “I was going to offer you another job. Kind of like a PA job, I have appearances and the like that I need to be at in the coming month...”

“Riho and Michael would be able to help you with that.” She said.

“True, they are nice to have around but I like you and would like for you to come see Japan...”

“I’m going to say no.” She said and shifted her hips a little. “I don’t need the added stress. I have my job here that I like, and then the next Pay-Per-View is going to be in Orlando, correct? On my down time I like going for hikes, walks on the beach, enjoy the quiet when I don’t have to work.”

She took a step back from him.

“I don’t want to go to Japan when you say so. I want to go when I say so. I don’t want someone to tell me when I have to go. I’ll get there on my own.”

She turned. Her hair swung about her face so fast as she turned away from him.

He asked her to stop in Japanese. When she kept walking he followed.

“Zoe-San, stop.” He jumped in front of her. “I’m sorry that I pissed you off...”

“I don’t want to be alone with a man.” She looked at him. “Men hurt me, Kenny-san. You’re a man. Leave me alone.”

“I’m sorry. Sumimasen, I am so sorry, Zoe.” He said, he held his hands up. “I wasn’t thinking about how you would react. I am really sorry.”

She ran her hand over her face. “You sound sincere, but my stance is still the same. I’m not going to Japan with you. And please, I want to be left alone.”

He screwed up. He really did screw up. Kenny watched her walk off towards the staff area between food stalls and the like. But it was what she had said to him in the heat of the moment while he was pushing his agenda onto her.

 _ **‘I don’t want to be alone with a man. Men hurt me, Kenny-San.’** _She said it with such anguish and absolute fear. A fear that he had never seen before, not with anyone he knew.

“You okay, Ken?” Matt asked.

“She’s afraid of me.” He said. “I didn’t know she was scared of me, or anyone. I didn’t see that. What else have I missed?”

“Maybe back off this coming month. Wait until Fest to talk to her. Give her room. Let her do what she wants when she wants. Respect her boundaries.” Matt said. Who then thumped Nick in the back of the head. “Idiot.”

“Sorry,” Nick grumbled. “But I didn’t think Ken had a right to do this to her when she already said she didn’t want his involvement.”

“It’s fine. I needed that wake up call.” Kenny waved it off. “I’m going out. There’s nothing else here that I need to do.”

He left feeling like an idiot.


End file.
